This invention relates to a method and apparatus for confirming the presence of a contact lens, especially for confirming the presence of a lens in its package prior to completing the packaging operation.
A conventional manner of packaging contact lenses is in so-called "blister packages". Such packages include a recess designed to hold an individual lens, usually in a saline solution in the case of soft hydrogel lenses. The packages are then enclosed and sealed with a lidstock, the lidstock conventionally being a metallic laminate such as a laminate including an aluminum layer, that can withstand post-packaging heat sterilization conditions. Frequently, multiple blister packages of contact lenses are then enclosed in a secondary carton which conventionally has the form of a paperboard box.
Automation offers increased speed and less human handling in packaging products such as contact lenses in blister packages. However, a drawback is that errors in automated packaging operations may more easily go undetected. The present invention provides a method and apparatus that can confirm that a contact lens has been placed in its package as intended.